Winnie (10 months) working on ”place” and her recall. We use these behaviors to e-collar condition our dogs as well - they learn to turn off the pressure by performing the requested behavior and then earn a reward.
We use a distanced place command, as well as a recall, to e-collar condition so the dogs do not associate e-collar pressure only with coming TO the handler - we can also send them away with it.
You’ll see Winnie is very happy and waggy during this session! When we introduce an e-collar in a constructive, clear way, the dogs are happy to play the game.
Doing some restrained sends to place with Winnie. Through the use of opposition reflex we are creating a strong desire to go to the place board. In this session Winnie knows exactly what we are working on and knows she is about to be sent to her place. She is dragged incrementally further away from the board and then released to go to it. We don’t normally do this with pet dogs when we teach them place because we want them to relax, but we are using the place command differently with Winnie. It will be used to assist in e-collar conditioning her. We taught her a recall using the e-collar, but for the work that she will be doing it is really important for her to want to run away from the handler and this is a great way to teach her that the e-collar doesn’t alway mean “come here”
Winnie - Impulse Control
While we’re taking a break from client dogs, we’re working with our own dogs - especially the babies!
Winnie is now about 7 months old and has really come a long way with her impulse control, while still keeping her wild independence that we love so much.
Here she is, practicing “wait” while I prepare her food puzzle for dinner - I don’t care what position she’s in as long as she is on the platform. You’ll see her think about hopping off when I move the box (which is what her dinner is in!) to the floor and you’ll see me stop moving when she does.
Any movement from her stops my movement, which means getting to dinner takes longer. As soon as she stops herself, I continue to place the box on the ground and finally release her to pounce into the box.
(Food enrichment is not everything, but it is useful for young puppies to do more than just eat from a bowl! The chewy box + crumpled paper is a cheap favorite around here for food games.)
Food Puzzles with Winnie
How do you keep your active puppy entertained when it’s cold and miserable out?
Food puzzles!
While food puzzles are not a replacement for other types of enrichment (like one-on-one training, positive play with other dogs or environmental enrichment activities) they can be useful for keeping busy dogs…busy for a little longer.
Food puzzles can be purchased, like the video on the right (this is a more advanced food puzzle and it is not suitable for every meal as it can be too frustrating for some dogs) or they can be as simple as whatever you have at home! In the video on the left we used a Chewy box filled with crumpled packing paper.
We also used snuffle mats/bowls, food-in-the-blanket and scattering food as other options.
What food enrichment toys/games have you tried?
Leash walking - Rex
Leash Walking with the DoberPony.
At 100+ pounds, we needed to make sure Rex’s leash walking skills were solid.
We elected to use a Halti with Rex, even though we can walk him in a flat collar. His owner is a small-framed, older woman and we felt this was the safest option for her to walk her giant pup. We don’t have strong feelings about any of the training tools we have available to us - we base our decisions on the dog and situation in front of us.
At our recent at-home session with his owner, Rex showed us just how much he’s learned and we worked to polish him up a little more before he went home.
You’ll see him get distracted, move away and then check back in with me as we’re walking - we don’t demand total focus on walks, but we do want those check-ins when the dog starts to drift.
Feeding Dinner with “place”
Callie + Sofi
Tonight I (Kae) was solo for the evening session with the girls and this was the first time I asked for tandem place work at dinner time.
Safe to say that both girls rocked it!
Callie got to eat first because Sofi is notoriously more pushy about food and Sofi did a great job of staying on place.
Callie was asked to return to place while Sofi ate her food and also did a great job.
Peace at mealtimes is priceless!
Callie - session one (touch)
Sweet Callie has moved on to working on “place,” but here’s a look at her very first session with touch.
She was very distracted by the dogs outside the room, but we worked through it and got some behavior we could reward…and that’s the goal!
Sofi - Intro to Place
This was Sophie’s first session with the place board.
All were doing here is “naming” what we are asking her to do (get on the board) and rewarding that behavior.
She picks up on it quickly!
By today’s session, she remained on place and even gave me a down - awesome progress, Sofi!
Callie is moving at a slower pace due to her anxiety about not having Sofi next to her at every moment. I’ll post a video of her first session with touch a little later on today!
Fetch with Cosmo
We’ve been so busy training dogs that we haven’t posted many updates!
Cosmo is back for week two and has been focusing on his place work with distractions and loose-leash walking, but we make time for fun too!
Games like this, that make a dog stop and think, are good for more than just tiring a dog out. Mental stimulation makes for a content, happy dog!
Instead of just playing fetch with your pup, try incorporating sit, down, stand and wait to help him/her slow down and think. This also allows good impulse control practice with a little bit of recall work!
🎾🎾🎾
Cosmo - E-Collar Introduction
We approach training from a balanced perspective. All of our work is based on positive reinforcement at the base level and we incorporated other approaches/tools as needed for each dog.
E-Collars are one of those tools. We love the clarity in communication afforded by e-collar work and it allows high-drive dogs (like Cosmo here!) a safe way to adventure off-leash or hangout in the front yard with his family.
Clear communication is one of the greatest gifts we can give our dogs and e-collars are a safe way to improve this. There are TONS of misconceptions about e-collars and their use. We also don’t believe they are “one size fits all” or appropriate for every dog. If you have questions about why/when/how we use them, feel free to reach out.
This video outlines how we start with e-collar conditioning. The very first step is identifying the dog’s working level. We do this by starting at the lowest level and working up until we see a subtle change in behavior - in this video you’ll see Cosmo look away and toward Blake at a level one, which is the lowest level on this system.
This level will be his working level as we start to overlay the e-collar for recall work and position work. We will post a video of his first working session with the collar on soon!
Quinn - shaping “down” using luring.
This video briefly captures and narrates how we teach a “down.” We use luring to teach most new behaviors - down can be a little tricky since we have to communicate to the dog that we want their body on the ground.
You’ll see me use my leg to create a physical barrier she can visualize and use my hand to lure her through/under my leg. I reward as soon as her body is on the ground and continue rewarding while she’s in that position.
This is Quinn’s third session working on down, so she’s a little faster to give me what I’m looking for. Remember that each dog moves at a different pace and may need to be rewarded at different times to shape the behavior!
At the end of each down, I toss some kibble and say “ok” to mark the end of that position. We will increase the duration of the down as we go.
Adele - Relaxation Work
One skill we teach consistently to pretty much every dog is “place.”
“Place” serves many purposes:
• It teaches high-energy dogs to settle and relax.
• It allows anxious dogs to feel safe and secure in a space of their own.
• It teaches dogs to disengage from humans and just simply exist - reducing annoying behaviors like whining, pawing and barking when you aren’t paying total attention to the dog.
• When taught using a blanket/mat, it becomes a potable “hub” for high-string dogs who need some reassurance in new environments.
Adele falls into the “anxious/high-strung” group of dogs and we are using this tool to give her reassurance in situations she’s uneasy in.
In this video we are working outside of our training room and other dogs and people are moving around the house/outside. Adele is very sound-sensitive and you’ll see her licking her lips, looking around nervously and holding her ears back in the first part of the video. She’s uncomfortable, but has also begun to realize that place is always safe.
Despite her anxiety, she starts taking deeper breaths and then puts her head down. You can’t see it in the video, but she sighs after she lays her head down. You will see me reward that by putting kibble down right in front of her nose.
After eating her kibble, she picks her head back up briefly but soon relaxes again. I praise her and release her from “place” after this.
Good work, Adele!
